D&D 5E A matter of weapons

[Eubani]

I have often found myself wishing that my choice of weapon mattered more and that any choice of weapon had meaningful consequences other damage of D4, D6, D8, D10, D12 or 2D6 damage piercing, slashing or bludgeoning damage. I am not going to go into homebrew weapon system here (unless I get a flash of inspiration) but if anyone has ideas feel free to post. The question I am putting forward is where would you look a making weapon choice matter? In the weapon stat, in Class mechanics, in subclass mechanics, in feats, in monster stats, by roleplay or by some other place not mentioned here?

 

[Ath-kethin]

I'm really confused. How does weapon choice NOT matter?

 

[Sacrosanct]

I tend to lean the other way, and it's one thing I miss about OD&D and B/X. All weapons did d6 damage. I like that because it opens up more thematically built PCs. A knife master? You see that a lot in books and media, but not so much in D&D because the dagger uses a d4 for damage.

IMO, I'd prefer weapon damage to be based more on skill and class than a base damage.

 

[Eubani]

I tend to lean the other way, and it's one thing I miss about OD&D and B/X. All weapons did d6 damage. I like that because it opens up more thematically built PCs. A knife master? You see that a lot in books and media, but not so much in D&D because the dagger uses a d4 for damage.

IMO, I'd prefer weapon damage to be based more on skill and class than a base damage.

So you are suggesting roleplay + Class as the tool, if I am understanding you correctly?

 

[Eubani]

I'm really confused. How does weapon choice NOT matter?

Some people think that there is too much sameness on the weapon chart. I will admit I loved the weapon design of 4e and the extended weapon specialization in D&D. I do understand that this sort of thing is an each to their own sort of deal.

 

[BookBarbarian]

This is exactly the premise of Kobold's Beyond Damage Dice. I don't have it, but it does have a preview of some of the weapons. https://koboldpress.com/beyond-damage-dice-now-available/

 

[Tony Vargas]

The question I am putting forward is where would you look a making weapon choice matter? In the weapon stat, in Class mechanics, in subclass mechanics, in feats, in monster stats, by roleplay or by some other place not mentioned here?

Expanding combat options might be a place to start. That is, you notice that weapon choice seems not to do enough, but maybe the issue isn't that weapon choice doesn't do much, so much as the character using weapons doesn't have enough choices to make after settling on a weapon...

 

[Blue]

I tend to lean the other way, and it's one thing I miss about OD&D and B/X. All weapons did d6 damage. I like that because it opens up more thematically built PCs. A knife master? You see that a lot in books and media, but not so much in D&D because the dagger uses a d4 for damage.

IMO, I'd prefer weapon damage to be based more on skill and class than a base damage.

I agree with you. I'd rather be able to skin the weapon whatever I want and not worry that it's a sub-optimal choice. If I want a guy who fights with a heavy maul I'm not penalized because I didn't pick the most damaging two handed weapon, I just want to be able to tell the story of my character.

Often if there are differentiation between them each archetype has a very limited choice of the optimal for them that restricts it even further if you don't want to gimp yourself. And I'd rather just be able to describe my character how I envision and not have to worry.

 

[ccs]

Personally I've always liked the AD&D weapon speeds.

And (in theory) the 1e Weapon vs AC charts. Yes, some weapons SHOULD be more/less effective against certain types of armor....
In play though I've never seen this system work out well. It's a degree of fiddlyness that most people just don't want to put up with.

 

[flametitan]

I tend to lean the other way, and it's one thing I miss about OD&D and B/X. All weapons did d6 damage. I like that because it opens up more thematically built PCs. A knife master? You see that a lot in books and media, but not so much in D&D because the dagger uses a d4 for damage.

IMO, I'd prefer weapon damage to be based more on skill and class than a base damage.

Incidentally, the reason why D&D moved away from unified damage was because Gygax's players didn't feel encouraged to use weapons that "played to type", instead resorting to Iron spikes because they were equally effective as the other weapons.

Just an interesting observation that two people can look at the same system and feel that it either solves the problem is the source of the problem itself.